10/25/2006

It is embarrassing to read the musings of American strategists about their supposed options in Iraq. In an October 20 essay in the Wall Street Journal, Professor Eliot Cohen listed as candidates for "Plan B" the following: (1) ask Iran and Syria to help, (2) withdraw, (3) send in more US troops, (4) let the civil war proceed with US troops sheltered in secure bases, (5) put a military strongman in charge, and (6) partition the country. "All of the options for Plan B are either wretched to contemplate or based on fantasy," concluded Cohen.

In fact, there is another option, namely to stop treating the conflict as an Iraqi matter and extending it to the whole region, first of all by attacking Iranian nuclear installations, and second by destabilizing Iran. Regime change as such may be a fantasy, but keeping the Iranians busy with problems inside their own borders is not. Widening the conflict is just what the US could not do in Vietnam without risking war with Russia or China.

HUMINT: Spengler has a point. A very selfish point, but an important one nonetheless. I call his point selfish because the suggestion only addresses the immediate concerns of the West. While I agree that this war is regional and certainly stretches outside Iraq's boarders, I disagree that the next logical target should be Iran's nuclear facilities. In terms of what this war is about, Iran's nuclear installations are a symptom of a regional disease. The disease is despotic governance that willfully puts the lives of its citizens and tourists at risk. I've described here how Ahmadinejad intends to use European tourists as human shields to protect his nuclear installations. Under the circumstances, Ahmadinejad's behavior is extremely reckless. Ahmadinejad - AND his nuclear weapons manufacturing facilities - deserve to be wrecked. I think his ability to function is a threat to Iranian, Middle Eastern, American and European citizens. His continuing dysfunction is the threat whereas the nuclear crisis is but one symptom. Like Spengler, I too consider these suggestions embarrassing. No one is talking about finding a cure for the disease.